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Re: The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relati
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04 Oct 2012, 00:34

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getgyan wrote:

The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost are what drive value.A. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost are what drive valueB. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to their cost is what drives valueC. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost is what is driving valueD. The combination of growth as well as return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost was what drove valueE. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost is what drives value

In this subject verb agreement problem, the subject is "combination".. Now when we have identified the subject, ignore everything that describes what the combination is of and re-read the sentence "of...". Whenever you see "of" followed by a subject, raise an alarm.

The combination relative to its cost are what drive value.

Now you see.. the singular subject "combination" does not agree with plural verb "are".

A. Above mentioned problem. Incorrect.B. "their cost" is incorrect. The cost is of the combination. Incorrect.C. The verb problem is fixed, but the verb form is changed from "drives" to "is driving" thus complicating and changing the meaning.D. "was" is unnecessary. E. "its cost", "is", "drives" . All correct usage. Correct._________________

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The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost are what drive value.

A. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost are what drive value

B. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to their cost is what drives value

C. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost is what is driving value

D. The combination of growth as well as return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost was what drove value

E. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost is what drives value

A - Subject 'combination' does not agree with plural verb 'are'B - Plural pronoun 'their' can not refer to singular 'combination'C - Present Progressive Tense 'is driving' is not required to state a fact. Instead simple present tense is required D - Switch to past tense 'was' 'drove' is wrong to state a fact which is true in present E - Correct answer
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28 Mar 2015, 22:24

This question primarily tests Subject -Verb & Pronoun agreement.

If we break the sentence and analyze, we arrive at two things:

1.) The combination of something is what drives value -Combination is singular and must take singular verbs "is" and "makes"2.) The pronoun its correctly refers to capital (and not combination - Meaning plays a key role here). Use of "their" is wrong. It's clear if you look at the phrase separately - "Return on capital relative to its cost"

Now look at the options. Easy to eliminate.

A. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost are what drive value -- Plural verbs used for combination

B. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to their cost is what drives value - their used to refer capital

C. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost is what is driving value - Present Progressive tense is unnecessary . Simple present will suffice

D. The combination of growth as well as return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost was what drove value - Past tense - Wrong . And I think the correct idiom is Combination of X and Y and not Combination X as well as Y - let me know if that's correct

E. The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relative to its cost is what drives value - Bingo ! Correct Answer (E)

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Re: The combination of growth and return on invested capital (ROIC) relati
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09 Mar 2019, 01:20

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